What Makes You Tick?

When it comes to self improvement, it is important to really know what makes you tick. In today’s episode, Dr. Mike poses a number of questions that you need to ask yourself in order to make sure you are really on track in your life. If your thoughts and ideas are not congruent, creating success becomes a chore you can not obtain. As you gain more congruence in your thoughts and actions, life has a way of unfolding in unique ways.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Living Well with Dr. Mike. I’m your host, Dr. Mike Cockrell and I want to thank you so much for joining me here today. Listen. In today’s episode, I’m going to be asking a series of questions. We’re going to be sort of going through about 10 different questions you really need to ask yourself, so that you can better understand what it is that really makes you tick.

When we talk about self-improvement or self-development, many people have this skewed connotation that they’re having to go to classes, they’re having to go to courses, they’re having to do this. I’m reading books. All of that’s very beneficial but when it really comes down to taking an inventory of where you’re at right now compared to where you want to be, there’s some very simple things that you can do literally and it will take you 15 minutes, probably tops, to get through those things. Today, I want to share with you a couple of things or a couple of ideas and I want to put forth for you some questions that you really need to be asking yourself when it comes to creating a better understanding of who you are, what you want out of life, how you’re going to have to go about structuring your life so that you can achieve those things that you truly want.

One of the things that’s really amazing to me is so many people really don’t understand what they want. That’s going to be question number one when you’re looking at this. What do I really want? Ask yourself that question. So many times in our life, we sort of feel like we have a grasp of what we need and what we want out of life but until you really stop and question what it is that truly pulls you, what is it that drives you, what are the things that motivate you, if I woke up this morning and could create my perfect day, what would it be? What do I really want to be doing? Who do I really want to be with? Begin to ask yourself those questions. You can find something that you’re good at, something that you really like to do, something you think you can make money at but are those the things that you really truly want in life?

The second question that you need to really ask yourself is, should I really be considering change? Now, if your life is perfect and everything is just the way it should be, you may not need to make any changes. For most of us, myself included, I am constantly striving to make change because who I was yesterday is not who I want to be in the future and that’s not who I am right now in the present. I am constantly reading. I’m constantly studying. I’m constantly asking questions. I spend time in prayer and meditation every day seeking answers, trying to get a better understanding of what it is that makes me tick and I’m asking myself, not should I really change, but what way do I need to be changing next so that I can actually reach my goals.

It’s sort of like … Creating personal development is sort of like trying to take a vacation trip and saying, “Man, I think we’re going to drive across country this year to visit a place in Washington State.” Then, you just jump in your car and you hit the road and you’re like, “I wonder how to get there.” It’s like getting out there on vacation and making this long journey without having any kind of plans or any kind of roadmap. You have to create a roadmap if you’re going to be successful and that roadmap will contain many detours.

All right, question number three, what’s the bright side on all of these? With so much happening around us, there seems to be no room for even considering the light at the end of the tunnel. You can still see it sometimes but you’re not sure if it’s a light or if it’s a train coming at you. Look at the bright side of things and look at … I try to encourage my kids to take a look at what’s the worst case scenario and if the worst case scenario that could happen with you taking the step forward is not going to take your life or take someone else’s life or create a tremendous amount of damage to you or someone else, then why not go for it because if you wait until everything is perfect and everything lines up, you will be waiting in eternity. I can tell you speaking from experience now, life is short. It’s by in a hurry and the older you get, the faster it goes by.

Question number four, ask yourself this. Am I comfortable with what I’m doing? If you’re not comfortable, if you don’t feel peaceful, if you have concerns, listen to your gut because oftentimes, it’s going to be trying to steer you. It may not be that your gut’s telling you that something is absolutely wrong. It may just be that your gut’s whispering to you that, look, you’re not quite ready for this. You’re going to have to make a few more changes in the process. We’ve got to take a little detour here or there in order to get you back on the path you really want to be on.

Question number five, have I done enough for myself? Being content in life is something that we all probably strive for because even when we feel like we’re content and happy, there is always other things that are sort of stirring us, that new car we want, that new house. Man, it would really be nice to be in a bigger house. When you can learn to be happy where you’re at with what you have, happiness is a natural state for you. Until you get there, ask yourself, have I done enough for myself? Do I need to spend more time in quiet time for me? How am I actually cultivating my peace of mind? There’s a lot of things that you can begin to do to move yourself forward.

Question number six, am I happy where I am today? It’s a [inaudible 00:06:23] question so let it be sort of this answer that you create in your own mind. We all love being good at something whether it’s being good at mom or dad or being good at our job but are those things … Question yourself, which of those things are truly making me happy? Which one, when you think about it, when you think about being the best employee, does that bring a … truly bring a smile to your face? Does it make you happy? Do you really want to jump up and down and go do that kind of thing?

If you write a new blogpost, whatever you’re doing in your life, ask yourself, am I happy where I am today? Let that be your guide because if you are happy and content with something, keep on doing it. Become the best you can at it. Make yourself excellent in that area. If you’re doing things that don’t make you happy, you need to be thinking about how do I change this so that I can create more happiness or how do I eliminate this from my life all together?

The next question, how much could I have? This is one of those questions that is just designed to get you out of your limited thinking because most of us feel like we oftentimes are limited. I can only make so much money at my job. I can only do so well at this particular spot in my life. I can only have this. I can only have that. You need to open your mind because the universe that we live in is all powerful. It is all giving and it is all abundant. There is nothing that you can imagine that you can’t create, have, and attain given the right set of circumstances and the right mindset. Open your mind up to imagine all that you could possibly have and don’t assume that you’re limited just because of where you are right now because in just a split second, where you are right now is in the past. It’s done. It’s gone and everything ahead of you is what you have to look forward to.

The next question, what motivates me? When you’re looking to find a way to change a path or a way to move forward, the things that motivate you sometimes are the things that really are trying to steer you in a good direction. I mean if you love working in your yard and you love gardening and you love birds and you love flowers, then those are the kind of things that motivate you, that get your juices flowing, that get you happy, that get you excited, that get you out wanting to do more, then spend more time doing those things. Focus your energies on trying to carve out small spots of time. You don’t have to create a block of four or five hours. Sometimes, creating a block of 10 or 15 minutes to do something that creates happiness in your life is the biggest life changing thing that you can do.

Then, finally, the question again, what is it that really makes you tick? If you’re really truly looking to create health, wealth and happiness in this life, you’re going to have to really seriously ask yourself that question. What is it that makes me tick? When you can actually wake up every morning and do the things that you love to do to create your life, to create your resources, to create your income, then you truly have a life that you can focus on and you can have a life that brings joy and happiness, not just to you, but when you are happy and you’re radiating joy and peace and happiness, then you actually influence everybody you come in contact with.

Here’s a quick little test you can do. When you get up this morning or when you go to work today or when you go to the store, make a point, every person you walk by today, put a big old smile on your face. Smile at them and say good morning, good afternoon, good day, how are you doing. Open up just a little bit and just say hi with a big smile on your face and watch the reaction you get from the majority of people. 95% of the people you do that to will smile back. It’s easy to see how you can impact others with your attitude very quickly just with that simple exercise

Listen. That’s all I have for today. If you need more information on what I’m doing here with Living Well with Dr. Mike, be sure to check out the website, livingwellwithdrmike.com. You can also check out my other sites, drmikecockrell.com, thefrustratedphysician.com and you can connect with me on Facebook at facebook.com/livingwellwithdrmike. I will talk with you soon in the next episode and until then, have a wonderful day

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Dr. Mike Cockrell is a practicing Family Physician, Business Owner, Entrepreneur, Author and Business Coach Dedicated to Helping People Achieve Financial Success By Starting An Online Business in Their Spare Time Discover more